Scratching That Itch

Ogden Nash once said:  Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.

Well, an unknown cattle culprit had an itch. And she (or he) scratched (as shown by the evidence left behind on the barbed wire. Who needs CSI to discover the crime?). 

I hope she/he was satisfied. Because we weren't. Happiness is not chasing feeder cattle in the cold and the dark after someone's scratching knocked down a wire on a gate. The culprit and a few friends evidently "itched" to escape the confines of the pasture after the fence failed.

Randy & I left our couch and our comfy fleece blankets behind and took off to round up the escapees.

He got the cold job, riding the 4-wheeler through the snowy field across the road. Thankfully, the snow kept the cattle near the round bales across the road. Like revelers at a New Year's Eve party, they didn't want to get too far from the buffet. 

My job was to use the pickup headlights as a guiding light. I was supposed to light up the entrance to the pasture so the cattle could find their way back home. After I had to quickly change directions when they took off on an uncharted course, Randy did get them guided back in with their friends. (You can barely see their rear ends (below, right beyond the weeds at the gate.) I was not going to use my flash before they were in the pasture and there was no danger of them getting spooked.)

We did a little fence fixing. Yes, it really was "we." I did my part by pushing when Randy said to push so we could get the fence tight. 

And then we closed up the gate and went back home to our fleece blankets.

All's well that ends well. 

William Shakespeare ... and Randy Fritzemeier.